


Thaddeus and Joshua

by ausmac



Category: Alias Smith and Jones
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-07
Updated: 2016-09-07
Packaged: 2018-08-13 13:44:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7978798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ausmac/pseuds/ausmac
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lost in the mountains in winter, the boys must keep each other warm and, naturally enough, something starts to bloom in the warmth.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thaddeus and Joshua

It was winter in the Arizona mountains. Snow was horse-belly deep and the wind cut through to the skin with numbing consistency. Anyone with any sense was down where the cold was at least bearable and the snow a mere powdering on the ground. Trying to make a mountain crossing at that time of year was suicidal - but some people weren't given any choice. 

A sheriff had recognised them and they'd escaped the town with only minutes to spare. The only way to go was up, so they'd gone up, into the cold, icy hell of the White Mountains. 

It was almost dark, though only mid afternoon, and the horses were tired and frozen almost to death. They managed to find an unoccupied cave big enough to take them and the horses and moved in for the night - or maybe forever, if they were too tired and too lost to find their way out in the morning. The cold was a dragging weight that sapped their energy and even the fire the Kid lit seemed afraid of it, shedding only a little warmth and light. 

Wi th a cup of rapidly cooling coffee between his gloved hands, Hannibal Heyes looked through the firelight at the cave mouth and sighed, his breath a frosty spear in the gloom. 

"Y'know, right now a warm cell looks real inviting." 

The Kid looked up from the fire, eyes tired and red-rimmed but still managing to shine with good humour. 

"That's what I like about you, Heyes, you're so full of cheery optimism.  Not to mention other things I'm too gentleman-like to mention." 

Heyes smiled mildly at the feeble wit and recognised that the Kid, too, knew the situation was far from good. Pretty bad, in fact. They were tired and chilled to the bone, with hardly any food and horses that might not make it through the night. Outside the storm howled as if it had set  in for the century. They could die in that cave that night, go to sleep and never wake. It would be very easy just to give in, to stop fighting. 

That thought lit a small determined light in Heyes' mind. It was a challenge, the latest of many in his life, and he hated to lose at anything. To sit back and let the unliving storm beat him - no, he wouldn't do that. Any dying on his part would be done after much kicking, screaming and use of tooth and nail. The Kid was the same. One of the things he'd always liked best about him.  That, and his calm, quiet strength. And crazy sense of humour. It was good to have someone around who you could turn to in a funny situation and know they'd be laughing too. 

Not that there was anything very funny going on just then. Heyes put the empty cup down and reached for the saddlebag behind him. He pulled his worn blanket out and looked up to see the Kid stretching his mouth open in an enormous jaw-creaking yawn, " 

"Now there sits a man in need of his beauty sleep." 

Curry snapped his mouth closed am scowled. "Listen, you're just as tired as me, so don't do the strong supportive role with me, partner." 

An argument was always a easy way to warm the blood and bring a tingle to the cheeks, but they were both too tired to take advantage of the opportunity. Heyes saw the flare slip out of his partner's eyes like a snuffed out candle. 

"OK, so we're both tired." Heyes flipped the blanket out.  "Care to join me, partner?" 

With a tired snort, the Kid pulled his own blanket out and slid over next to Heyes. At such times, closeness was an advantage; under two blankets wi th their shared body heat, they would stand a better chance of warding off the cold. It was something they had done on one or two previous occasions and it had worked well. 

Heyes wrapped his arms around his partner and pulled his blanket up at the back, while the Kid did the same. They rolled over onto their sides and as close as possible to the fire and in a minute or two the Kid was asleep. 

 Heyes lay awake a little longer, listening to the wind outside and his partner's light snore. He was already warmer from where the Kid's body was pressed against his, and without noticing exactly when he drifted into sleep...

 

He was warm and safe and there was a steady even beat close to his ear that carried the memories of security from a time before he was even born. Peace. Safe. He came awake slowly, unsure for a moment where he was.  It was dark and strange. Then the sound of the wind came back to him and the darkness was explained . 

His face was pressed to the kid's chest and the beating sound was Curry's heart, slow in sleep. Heyes' senses were full of his partner;  the warm touch, the sound and breathing and heartbeat, the vaguely musky smell of man and the warm odour of horse and leather. Nothing unpleasant, all very familiar and comforting. 

The Kid mumbled in his sleep and turned so that his face was pressed against Heyes' neck. Heyes turned his head slightly and found that his chin came to rest in the curled tangle of Curry's hair. 

Then the Kid squirmed around and turned against him, his ass rubbing against Heyes' groin - and something stirred that was totally unconcerned with the cold. 

He knew suddenly that he should do something - move away, go to sleep - anything to stop himself from thinking and feeling what he was thinking and feeling.  On long cattle drives they had names for men who went off together.  Am I one of those, he thought, because in that moment it felt so damned good that it even overcame the embarassment.  He lifted his top leg slightly so that the Kid's butt settled more comfortably against the suddenly tight cloth of his trousers and closed his eyes.  As his partner innocently moved against him in sleep, Heyes bit his lip to stop himself from moaning.   

He simply let the pleasure happen, stopped fighting it and held himself still as it erupted through his body in near-silent bliss.  After it had faded he lay awake for a long time staring into the dark, and wondering how anyone couldn't know something that important about themselves. 

When they had first met they'd both been young and crazy and hungry for adventure. Jedediah had practised with his gun until he was fast and accurate, but not with any desire to kill - simply because he wanted to be good at it, good at something.  Killing was a fool's game - any dumb bastard could kill.  He wanted to be the fastest and  the best. 

Heyes had also enjoyed the danger and excitement that the two of them had found together. The banks and the trains had been lures for the thrill as much as for their treasure.  Over the years of working together they had grown closer till they could read each other from a look, a tilt of the head, could see the changes of mood like the changes of weather.  All the bad habits and good points had blended until their natures fitted together like pieces of a child's block set.   They could talk to each about anything. 

But this…could they talk about this?  Heyes thought this might be one thing that even the Kid wouldn't understand. . .because he sure as hell didn't… 

The Kid came awake feeling confined yet comfortable.  His head was lodged beneath Heyes' chin and his face pressed to his partner's neck. The skin was warm and damp where his face had been pressed against it.  His feeling of confirnement came from the way both the blankets and Heyes were wrapped around him, cocoon like.  Heyes' legs were locked over his and his arms held him tightly, even in sleep. 

As he lay, contemplating whether he should budge the other into loosening his hold, he remembered the dream that had stirred him awake. It was confusing, as dreams often are, but nice.  He remembered being kissed in that dream, and in a flash the kisser's face came back to memory.  He laughed, a surprised cough of laughter, and Heyes twitched and came awake. 

"What… ..whats the matter now. . ?" 

"Nothing.  Just had a dream." 

Heyes groaned and twisted slightly. "You woke me because of a dream!" 

Curry grinned.  "If you'd seen my dream you wouldn't think so." 

Heyes sighed and rolled into a slightly more comfortable position.  "Fine, I'm awake.  So tell me." 

Curry was suddenly ernbarassed. "No, forget it. Isn't important." 

"Oh no, you don't get out of it that easy."  Heyes' grip hardened suddenly, surprising a grunt out of Curry. "Spill it."  

"Well, I don't remember all of it... but I do recall you kissing me." 

Heyes was suddenly very still.  "Yeah?" There was silence for a moment or two. "Was I good?" 

Heyes laughed. "Egotist.  Since it was more a dream than a nightmare, I suppose it must have been.  I guess I'll never know for sure." 

Heyes twisted about until his face was level with Curry's.  "There's one way to find out." 

"Now, wait a minute. ." Jedediah wasn't sure where this line of conversation was leading, but he was aware of a strange tension.  

"Scared?" The word was whispered.  They were so close that the Kid could feel Heyes' breath on his face. The single word was a challenge; he felt that Heyes was subtly daring him, and he always found it hard to resist dares. 

"Fine, Heyes, don't say you didn't ask for it." Leaning forward a mere inch, he pressed his lips against Heyes', closed his eyes and gave him his best kiss.  For a moment there was a stunned lack of reaction, then Heyes tightened his arms, opened his lips and…… 

Curry knew the feeling well; the swelling rush of arousal, the excited pounding of his heart.  Only thing was, if he opened his eyes he would see it was Heyes he was kissing, Heyes' mouth he was tasting, a flavour he somehow knew, hot and musky and intimately familiar.  But what made it even more surprising was that his partner's body was trembling where it was pressed so closely against him - not from any bad emotion, but from an equal excitement.  It was real easy to know that.  Real easy. 

The kiss ended finally, as they pulled back to breathe.  Heyes broke the silence first, his usual dry humour sounding a little strained. 

"So…good or better than you dreamed?" 

Curry cleared his throat and licked his lips, still tasting his partner.  "Difficult. . .difficult to say.  Different."  He saw the hesitation in the dark eyes and smiled.  "Of course, I'd need to check it out again, do some comparisons."  

"You surprise me, Kid.  I thought you knew everything about me." 

Curry wriggled one hand free and hooked it around the back of his parnter's head.  "Obviously not.  Think you can help me do something about this serious pecker I've got growing at the moment?" 

"I think I can, my friend."  It was Heyes holding him, placid, steady and reliable Heyes, who would never let him down, would always be there for him.  Whatever that was, whatever you called it, it was everything to Curry. 

Trust, it was all a matter of trust.  That, and love, an affection so deep they never spoke of it, simply it was there, like the air or the sky.  The Kid sighed into the warm skin of Heyes' chest as those familiar hands worked around to his ass and pressed him forward so that his aroused cock was wedged against Heyes' groin.  Locked together, they moved against each other, gasping and sobbing and finding a different level of pleasure in each other's touch. 

The storm was done when they finally climbed out of the cave, and the sun was blinding on the snow-covered earth.  Curry wondered, for a time, if they should be ashamed of what they had become, till he saw the confident, calm face of his partner.  Nothing had changed, there was nothing that hadn't been there before.  It was simply a new day.


End file.
